We do not know what awaits each of us after death, but we know that we will die. Clearly, it must be possible to live ethically--with a genuine concern for the happiness of other sentient beings--without presuming to know things about which we are patently ignorant. Consider it: every person you have ever met, every person you will pass in the street today, is going to die. Living long enough, each will suffer the loss of his friends and family. All are going to lose everything they love in this world. Why would one want to be anything but kind to them in the meantime?

sam harris

Source: The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason, Pages: Epilogue

Through these meditations, we discover that our suffering is not just a personal problem. It need not isolate us from others into narrow confines of personal pain. We can rediscover the meaning of our own suffering as a profound connection to countless others and to the dignity and sacredness of all our lives.... Such compassion doesn't just share the sorrow of beings in their suffering. It is also a resolute will and liberating energy which communes with others at the level of their deepest freedom. And it is joy at participating in their freedom now.

Compassion that knows others in all levels of their suffering motivates service for them on all levels of their need. Such service is not easily discouraged at disappointing temporal outcomes, because it holds others in their deepest potential of freedom, which is always present…. We are learning how to hold our clients in the vision of their positive potential, confirming their essential goodness, even when confronting their harmful behaviors or limiting thoughts of themselves and others.

Through the wisdom of letting be, we learn that we don't have to react to the shifting contents of our experiences but can 'lean into' their unchanging essence of knowing emptiness. We can let be and find deep rest right there.... Wise compassion keeps our mind on realities that transcend self-centeredness, so our best intentions can be realized instead of being overwhelmed by emotional reactions to fallible people or disappointing outcomes.